c. 1861 Civil War Union Soldier’s ID Dog Tag with a Bust Portrait of President George Washington on its face, struck in copper-nickel metal, Identified to Private Edward Blumanster of Company A, 36th Regiment of New York Volunteers, PCGS graded Choice Extremely Fine-45.
This choice quality Dog Tag measures about 1" across with a standard hole punched in its top edge to accommodate warring. Washington's Bust faces right surrounded by a circle of stars and the word "Union" at the bottom. Private Blumanster's information is laid out along twelve lines on the reverse, with his name stamped in an arching shape along the top. All text and imagery is well-preserved, sharply detailed and clearly visible. The 36th New York Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the "Washington Volunteers", was organized in NYC and mustered between June 17 and July 4, 1861. Assigned to the Army of the Potomac in October 1861 and participated in the hard-fought Peninsular Campaign, then the Battles of Chantilly, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. The regiment was in General Burnside's infamous "Mud March" in January 1863, then saw action assaulting Marye's Heights in May, making a successful charge on the 3rd and engaging at Salem Heights on the 4th. In June 1863 the 36th departed the theater and was mustered out in New York City, on July 15, 1863. In total, the regiment lost 1 Officer and 36 Enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, and 4 Officers and 26 Enlisted men to disease during the course of the Civil War.